Holidays: World’s most powerful passport for 2019 REVEALED - is it the UK?

HOLIDAYS to countries around the world require a passport, no matter where you are from and the most dominant passport of 2019 has now been revealed in new research - but where does the UK’s key travel document rank?

Holidays abroad will always require a passport but some also necessitate a visa, which can be both expensive and hard to gain. A powerful passport is measured by how many countries citizens can visit without a visa. The Henley Passport Index “is the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.” The 2019 index has revealed the country with the most dominant passport of all is Japan.

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Holidays 2019: Japan has world’s most powerful passport - but where does UK rank?

Those with a Japanese passport have visa-free access to 190 countries. The island nation doesn’t share the top spot with any other countries.

Japan also came top place in the Henley Passport Index 2018. It acquired visa-free access to Myanmar, helping it beat passport rival Singapore.

Previously, both Singapore and Japan had access to 189 countries and shared top place.

Unlike last year, the Henley Passport Index 2019 revealed Singapore to be sharing second place with South Korea, which has visa-free access to 189 countries.

South Korea had previously come in in third place, tied with France and Germany. It has now moved up the ranking following a recent visa-on-arrival agreement with India.

France and Germany still remain in third position this year, with access to 188 countries.

Holidays 2019: The 2019 index has revealed the country with the most dominant passport is Japan (Image: Getty Images)

Fourth place saw Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden have access to 187 countries. Luxembourg and Spain shared fifth place with visa-free access to 186 countries.

The US and UK now sit in joint sixth place, with access to 185 destinations. This is a significant fall from the first place position that these countries held in 2015.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was one of the biggest climbers on the 2018 Henley Passport Index. It climbed five places up the rankings, from 27th place at the beginning of 2018, to 22nd place currently.

This year the UAE benefited from visa-free access to 164 countries around the world.

The UAE gained more visa exemptions for its citizens in 2018 than any other country in the world.

Holidays 2019: The US and UK now sit in joint sixth place, with access to 185 destinations (Image: Getty Images)

British Passport through the years

Sun, March 25, 2018

The evolution of the British passport through wonderful vintage pictures.

A 32-page passport with a dark cover, commonly known as the old blue style, came into use in 1920

The least powerful passports in the world for 2019 were Iraq and Afghanistan which came in 104th place with access to just 30 countries.

The Henley Passport Index ranking “is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information, and it is enhanced by extensive, ongoing research by the Henley & Partners Research Department.”

Dr Christian H. Kälin, Group Chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the Passport Index concept, said the 2019 ranking shows, despite rising isolationist sentiment in some parts of the world, many countries remain committed to collaboration.

“The general spread of open-door policies has the potential to contribute billions to the global economy, as well as create significant employment opportunities around the world,” he said in a statement.

“South Korea and the United Arab Emirates’ recent ascent in the rankings are further examples of what happens when countries take a proactive foreign affairs approach, an attitude which significantly benefits their citizens as well as the international community.”